ATNFPULSAR - ATNF Pulsar Catalog

The Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) Pulsar Catalog is a catalog
of known pulsars compiled by R.N. Manchester et al. and is descended from
pulsar database used for the paper "Catalog of 558 Pulsars" by J.H. Taylor,
R.N. Manchester and A.G. Lyne 1993, ApJS, 88, 529-568. The current catalog
has been supplemented by inclusion of published data from more recent radio
surveys, in particular, the Parkes Multibeam (PM) Pulsar Survey (Manchester
et al. 2001, MNRAS, 328, 17-35) [available at the HEASARC as the PMPULSAR
table] and the Swinburne Intermediate Latitude Pulsar Survey (Edwards et al.
2001, MNRAS, 326, 358-374), both made using the ATNF Parkes 64-m radio
telescope. Binary parameters for known binary pulsars are also included as
well as all available astrometric and spin parameter information for all
pulsars. The catalog includes all published rotation-powered pulsars. Two
separate small subsets of pulsars detected only at high energies are also
included in the current table: the first group comprises X-ray and gamma-ray
pulsars which are apparently powered by spin-down energy, but which have not
been detected at radio wavelengths, while the second group contains anomalous
X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft-gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) for which coherent
pulsations have been detected. Accretion-powered pulsars such as Her X-1 and
the recently discovered X-ray millisecond pulsars such as SAX J1808.4-3658
are not included in this table, however.

Many people have contributed to the compilation of the data contained in this
catalog and the database that it was derived from. The authors particularly
thank Andrew Lyne of the University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Observatory,
David Nice of Princeton University, and Russell Edwards, then at Swinburne
University of Technology. The also acknowledge the efforts of Warwick
University students Adam Goode and Steven Thomas who compiled and checked a
recent version of the database. The original (summer 2003) database at the
ATNF website was compiled with the invaluable assistance of Maryam Hobbs,
while the ATNF web interface was designed and constructed by Albert Teoh, a
Summer Vacation Scholar at the ATNF in 2002/2003.

RA
The Right Ascension of the pulsar in the selected equinox. The RA is
given in J2000 coordinates and to various precisions in the original ATNF
table, ranging from 1.0E-08 seconds of time to 1 minute of time. The HEASARC
Browse system's built-in precession routines are not of astrometric accuracy,
and thus we recommend using the default J2000 equinox for positions when
querying this database. Even then, the Right Ascensions in this HEASARC table
are displayed only up to a precision of 0.0001 seconds of time; for those
specialized applications where a higher positional accuracy is desired, users
should consult the original version of these data at the ATNF Pulsar Group
website, http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/.

Dec
The Declination of the pulsar in the selected equinox. The Declination
is given in J2000 coordinates and to various precisions in the original ATNF
table, ranging from 1.0E-05 arcseconds to 1 arcminute. The HEASARC Browse
system's built-in precession routines are not of astrometric accuracy, and
thus we recommend using the default J2000 equinox for positions when querying
this database. Even then, the Declinations in this HEASARC table are
displayed only up to a precision of 0.001 arcseconds; for those specialized
applications where a higher positional accuracy is desired, users should
consult the original version of these data at the ATNF Pulsar Group website,
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/

Period
The pulsar barycentric period, in seconds. This is given to various
precisions in the originating table, notice, up to more than 16 decimal
places. In this HEASARC table, the period is displayed (in character form)
exactly the way it is given at the ATNF Pulsar Group website,
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/

Period_Error
The uncertainty in the pulsar barycentric period, in seconds.

Pulse_Width_50
The width of the pulse at 50% of the peak (ms).
Note that pulse widths are a function of both observing frequency and
observational time resolution, so the quoted widths are illustrative only.
Refer to the original reference for details.

Pulse_Width_10
The width of the pulse at 10% of the peak (ms).
Note that pulse widths are a function of both observing frequency and
observational time resolution, so the quoted widths are illustrative only.
Refer to the original reference for details.